72 - Eugène ATGET (1857–1927)

Eugène ATGET (1857–1927) Cabaret, 1 rue Guisarde (6th arrondissement) Neoclassical storefront: glass door with embroidered curtains between two fluted pilasters topped with capitals adorned with masks; cast-iron transom featuring spires, rosettes, and cups; grilles topped with pinecones. Later print from the National Library; a small circular stamp appears in the image on the step. Silver print 24 x 19 cm Inscription on the reverse: Annotation in blue ink: “Cabaret, 1 rue Guisarde”; in pencil: “BNF G045777” Provenance: former Jean-Marie Drot collection Born in Libourne in 1857, Eugène Atget worked as a sailor and then as an actor before devoting himself to photography around 1890. Settling on Rue Campagne-Première, he produced “documents for artists” and spent nearly forty years photographing old Paris: streets, courtyards, storefronts, signs, small trades, parks, and interiors. His thousands of photographs were acquired by the National Library, the Carnavalet Museum, and the Historic Monuments department, which saw them as an inventory of a city in the process of disappearing. Man Ray and the Surrealists, followed by Berenice Abbott—who saved a large portion of his collection—revealed the poetic dimension of his work. He died in Paris in 1927 and is considered one of the fathers of modern documentary photography.